Alan Nafzger on a Secretary of State’s order under the Public Processions Act, the Chief Constable’s warning, a joint statement on the ICC and the limits of an editor’s wit
Saturday 10 October, 9.05pm, the editor’s study, a lamp, a pot of tea and the sense that some days the right thing to do with a pen is to put it down for a moment.
Dear Diary. This week’s government pages include two statements I want to record plainly. I will describe them as they are written, I will add nothing to them that I cannot support, and I will keep my usual habits of teasing to the smallest possible room. One concerns a parade in Northern Ireland. The other concerns the International Criminal Court.
The Drumcree Statement
On 9 October the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Sir Chris Bryant, published a statement on the Drumcree parade. According to it, he made an order under Section 11 of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act, concluding that the Portadown District Loyal Orange Lodge procession cannot go ahead as the Parades Commission determined. The trigger, the statement says, was an application made by the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland under Section 9 earlier that day. The Secretary of State then reviewed the Commission’s initial determination on the Portadown District application for 27 September 2026.
The statement quotes the Chief Constable as saying that enabling the procession would require a major intervention carrying an unacceptable risk of serious injury, disorder and a wider contagion effect across Northern Ireland. The Parades Commission’s view, it adds, is that while this is a matter for the courts, its original determination no longer has enduring legal effect in light of the Chief Constable’s assessment. Over about two weeks, Bryant sought a mutually acceptable agreement between the Portadown lodge and Garvaghy Road residents, with several rounds of talks at Hillsborough Castle the previous week, but no local resolution was reached. The statement notes that the courts affirmed that Portadown District held a lawful determination allowing the procession.
It thanks the Portadown lodge for its peaceful and law-abiding approach and for its cooperation with the police. It asks for all protests, rallies and demonstrations to be stood down, warns against escalating tensions, and says those who act unlawfully should face consequences. It also warns that another weekend of stand-off could spread protests and damage community relations, and notes that Portadown residents have been anxious and worried.
What an Editor Can Say
Very little, and that is the correct amount. This is a matter in which a long history, two communities, a court and a police assessment are all in play, and an outsider’s opinion about who is right would add heat and no light. What I can say is what any observer can: that the statement is a careful document, that it tries to give each party its due, and that it ends with a plea for calm. The record of the Parades Commission and its determinations is long, and anyone who wants to understand it should read the history rather than the headlines.
The wider constitutional background belongs to a different sort of writing. Our pieces on the structure of the Union are the place for it, including the study of the Act of Union of 1707, when England and Scotland decided to share the same paperwork, the survey of the devolved civil services of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the scholarly perspectives on whether the Union is sustainable. They are not about this week’s events, and I do not link them as if they were. They are for the reader who wants to see how the machinery was built.
The Court
The other statement is of a very different kind. On 9 October the Foreign Office published a joint statement on support for the International Criminal Court, signed by the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, speaking as States Parties to the Rome Statute. It reaffirms support for the Court’s independence, impartiality and integrity. It says the signatories regret and firmly oppose US plans to impose sanctions on the Court, acknowledges the Court’s work to prepare for these measures and pledges support for that effort.
The statement says that, if enforced, the sanctions would significantly affect the Court’s work and its staff and their families, who pursue accusations of the most serious international crimes and support victims. It commits the signatories to constructive and inclusive dialogue with non-States Parties ahead of the Assembly of States Parties in December 2026, and to continue working together to support the Court, uphold the rules-based international system and advance accountability.
A Note on Method
I report this one with some care too. It is a position statement from eight governments about a decision by a ninth, and it states what the signatories think and intend. I have not seen the US plans the statement refers to, and I will not describe them. If you want the other side of the argument, you should read the American government’s own account, which an editor who respects his readers will always point you towards.
Why I Put These Together
Because they show the two faces of the state that govna.uk exists to observe. One is the local, human, fragile face, in which a minister sits in a castle trying to broker an agreement between neighbours. The other is the diplomatic face, in which eight foreign ministers sign a text that will be read mostly by lawyers. Both are government. Both have consequences for real people. Neither is improved by a cheap joke from a man in a study.
I will do what I can with the rest. For the lighter side of the same institutions, our Northern Ireland satire guide explains how we approach the subject with care, Bohiney Magazine has its own American instincts and The Daily Squib can supply a laugh about something else entirely, which on a night like this is a mercy.
11pm. The lamp is off, the tea is cold and the document stack is squared. I have decided that restraint is also an editorial position.
Good night, Diary. Read the statement, then wait.
SOURCE: bohiney.com